The Duke's Masked Wife

Edgar inspected the shabby bedroom which fit perfectly with the aesthetic of the shabby house. Everything about this house perfectly matched the people left behind to live in it.

"Would you like to take a seat so that we can talk?" Katrina pulled out the chair from her vanity for Edgar to use.

"You don't have enough money to pay me to sit down on anything here ever again. You should know that after the last time I was here I ended up with countless rashes from bug bites. You must be so used to it that you are immune. I never once saw you itching. Do you like having me here, Baroness?" Edgar asked, careful not to touch anything as he walked around the room with his hands behind his back.

"It is a pleasure to have someone like yourself here, Duke Collins. You've married my stepdaughter and now you are family. Why wouldn't I want you here?" Katrina continued to force a smile. She had a bad feeling about this visit but Edgar could not prove she was the one to spread the rumors, therefore, he could not do anything to her.

"Family?" Edgar chuckled as he found her to be delusional. "Baroness, we're hardly even acquaintances. You hate my wife, remember? Isn't that why you resorted to telling lies about her friendship with the cook to ruin her?"

"I'm hurt you think I would want to damage her reputation that way, Duke Collins. How can I hurt the daughter of the man I loved? I don't know what lies Alessandra has told you but I have treated her well considering the fact she is not my blood. It wasn't easy for me to enter a marriage with a man who was married before and already had a child," said Katrina.

"If my sources are correct, you were pregnant before you married the Baron. It wasn't easy for you to think about marrying a man with a child and previous marriage but it wasn't hard to lay in bed and have his child. Sure, I believe it was not easy for you. I must say you are excellent at keeping up the lie for years that you are nice to Alessandra and she was the problem.  You should think of joining the theater."

Katrina's lip twitched. "I have always been nice to Alessandra," she honestly replied.

There were crueler things she could have done to Alessandra. Making her a prisoner in her own home was a nice thing. There was always that thought of killing Alessandra to have Desmond only focus on Kate but Katrina had never given in to those thoughts. Edgar should be thankful Alessandra was still alive and well for him to be able to marry her.

"Cut the bullshit with me, Baroness. I don't have time for your games and I already know you were the one who spread that rumor about my wife. You and your daughter have been cruel to her for a long time. Are you satisfied now that the town's talking about her even more?" Edgar asked.

Katrina scoffed and licked her bottom lip. "Fine, let's stop pretending. It's only the two of us here and I can't get you to believe a word I say. Of course, I hate Alessandra and treated her badly. How could anyone expect me to be nice to her when she looks like her mother? Tell me, how did she react to the news? Did she look as shocked as I wanted her to be?"  She grinned.

Katrina wished she could have been a fly on the wall to see Alessandra's face. "Did she cry and send you over here to fix everything? You should have brought her along for me to get a good laugh. I'm honestly starting to miss her ruined face. How dare you take my pet away."

Edgar smiled, deeply amused by how bold she was. "Do you not fear me?"

"I have nothing to fear when you can't kill me, Duke Collins," Katrina seductively walked up to him. "You cannot kill or imprison me for allegedly spreading a rumor about your wife. You have no proof and besides, women talk all the time. Your issue should be with the cook and whatever he said about your wife. You," she stared at his features. "Are too handsome for a girl with so many problems. Such a shame. Doesn't her face scare you or have you not seen it?"

"First, if you are going to stand so close you should rinse your mouth. Secondly, what happened to her face?" Edgar calmly spoke though he was raging on the inside.

"Alessandra found her own face to be horrendous and tried destroying it. Had I stalled Desmond a little bit more, the other side would have been ruined. Ha-ah!" Katrina gasped and clawed at the hand Edgar grabbed her neck with. She had not seen when his hands moved from behind his back and only felt the overbearing pain of him squeezing her neck. "Wait! R-Release me."

Edgar ignored her pleas and her nails digging into his skin to make him release her.  Instead, he dragged her to the open window.

Fighting back against his grip, Katrina ended up falling but Edgar's hold stopped her from hitting the floor. Her buttocks and legs dragged against the floor and whatever furniture they passed by she tried grabbing onto to stop him from taking her to the window. She was scared Edgar might be crazy enough to throw her out the window.

"M-My neck," the words barely escaped her lips. She was certain her neck would be severely damaged from the way he was holding onto it and the way he dragged her like a child would drag around a doll.

Edgar hoisted Katrina up and placed her upper body out the window, His grip on her neck was the only thing stopping her from falling alongside her hands desperately holding onto the wall.

"Where has your confidence from earlier gone? Continue with it. I want to see it. No? That's disappointing," Edgar whispered. He wanted to see her be her true self at this moment. "You can only pick on the weak, can you? Did you think you could talk about my wife as you pleased and I would do nothing? Tell me why I shouldn't throw you out this window and be done with you?" He pushed her body slightly downward.

Katrina opened her mouth and spoke but no words were heard. Her eyes were starting to roll back and sweat formed on her forehead as she panicked. "I'm innocent," she eventually managed to get two words out.

"I clearly remembered the night I killed your husband. How Alessandra escaped by going out her window. Should we test your ability to survive falling from the second floor?" He pushed her body further back.

Katrina was in the perfect position to be tossed out the window and land straight on her head.

"You're lucky I promised not to kill you. I'm giving you one whole day starting now to clear up this shit you started. I'm giving you one last chance to stop fucking around with my wife or I will continuously have you thrown from this window until your head cracks open. Do we understand each other?"

Katrina nodded her head as best as she could and felt relieved when he pulled her back inside though she was thrown harshly against the floor. She took quick deep breaths and cried as the pain around her neck increased even though Edgar was no longer holding her.  She was afraid to touch her neck to cause herself even more pain.

Each time she swallowed saliva there was a sharp pain. Katrina lifted her head to look at Edgar and found him to show no emotion after what he had just done. No anger or amusement was shown. He looked just as calm as he had entered the room.

'Monster,' she thought.